Imagine a village management game with a side of dungeon exploring, all played through stacking cards, and that’s exactly what Kaya’s Prophecy is. It mixes roguelite and card stacking games really well, taking inspiration from both its predecessor games, Stacklands and WitchHand.
If you recall, I do love myself some card games, especially when they explore new design spaces and new methods to take the genre in, and Kaya’s Prophecy was able to scratch both my itch for card games and my curiosity for new games.
The Game
The setting of the game follows a little village that was struck by an evil god, who destroyed the village, leaving only one person alive. That person is the titular main character Kaya, who has to rebuild her small village from nothing, while also feeding the evil god to avoid his wrath. On top of that, she also has to find other villagers that will join her, defend the village from invading tribes and animals, and explore the unknown, while working towards sealing the evil god.
When it comes to the gameplay, if you have previously played Stacklands or WitchHand then you are no stranger to the game’s mechanics, but for newcomers I will try to explain the game mechanics as best as I can. You start off the gameplay with the “exploration” part of the game, where the tutorial takes you through a normal roguelite card game with branching paths on a map you can take. At each location, you move to either have an event, a chest of items, or a fight.
A fight works the same as it would in any roguelite card game, where you begin with a deck of cards and draw 5 cards during each turn. Each card has an “energy” cost to play, while you start with a limited energy number of energy. The enemies show their intent, whether to block or attack you, thus giving you the choice of what cards to play that turn, to either mitigate the damage done to you, or to dish out large amount of damage to the enemy.
At the end of the tutorial, you will be taken to the bulk of the game, which is village management done via a “card stacking” mechanic. You are presented with a deck of cards, which represent Kaya and the resources she has to manage. To use a resource, you stack Kaya’s card on the said resource; for instance, you can stack Kaya on a Tree card for her to gather from the card, which may produce Wood, Coconut, and so on. This card stacking is the main gameplay mechanic, and what you as the player will spend most of your time doing.
To gain more cards, you can sacrifice cards that have Blood value to the evil god, and three Blood cards can be presented to the temple to produce a Card Pack. You can click on the Card Pack to produce 3 or more cards, which, depending on the stage of the game, can then be used as resources, or sacrificed to the evil god again for more Blood cards, and so on.
The game runs on real time with a day-night cycle, which means that you can pause the game, run it on x1 speed or x2 speed while Kaya gathers resource or craft items, and at the end of the day, answer the evil god’s automated demands for food. If you have enough food, the evil god will present you with some more cards, including Plan cards; if not, the evil god will punish you by dealing damage to Kaya or destroying your village.
Plan cards are cards that enable you to craft new items from the resources you gain, which ultimately helps you progress the game, as you need more Buildings and Items to gain Levels. To craft Items you need to stack cards; for instance, the House plan creates a House building that can heal your characters, which requires you to stack Kaya’s card and resource cards to craft the said item.
There are times when you will get exploration cards, like the Jungles or Ruins, which Kaya can be stacked onto start the exploration or roguelite part of the game. It plays similarly to the tutorial part of the game, but unlike the tutorial, you can earn resource cards, new Plan cards and meet new villagers depending on where you explore.
So, What Do I Think Of The Game?
The card stacking genre started with Stacklands, which came out in 2018. As a result, it is a relatively new genre with not a lot of games in its category. It is a surprising that a developer would try their hand at this genre and progress it further by introducing other aspects or genres into the game. It is safe to say that they did a pretty good job, though I do wish they were more daring with the exploration aspect of the game. I would like there to have been more choices, risks and rewards, as the game as it stands feels lacking in that aspect.
Of course, the part of the game that I love the most is the card stacking mechanic, which involves managing the village by crafting new buildings and items, while also balancing food and sacrificing resources to get more blood. This requires a lot of thought and strategy as you have to decide what to sacrifice and what you may need to craft for a plan that you may get in the future. You might need to use food to craft items, which could cost you at the end of the day, as there might not be enough to appease the evil god. This part of the game is not just fun, but also fulfilling.
As I mentioned, the exploring part is lacking as most enemies and bosses are relatively easy to be dealt with, either with Kaya or the other characters like the Warrior. The rewards also seem lacking as they are mostly the same resources you can get from the Card Pack with the occasional new characters or Plan cards. I would have loved for the exploration parts to be interwoven into the village management part; for instance, some resources could be made exclusive to exploring. thus requiring you to frequently explore to gain more of that specific resource.
The last thing I have to say is that the game is fairly easy, so much so that getting the food, resources and progressing the village most of the time carries no risks, which means the evil god rarely punishes the player as resources are abundant. The exploration part of the game also does not provide much challenge, as even if you do get hurt, you can just fully heal your character at the House that you have built.
So, What Is My Conclusion?
Overall, the genre is still in its infancy and I applaud the developers for taking the game in a new direction just like WitchHand did. I would love to see more of these types of games and with even more innovative ways to play them. I give the game a score of 7 pies out 10 pies, and I hope you are able to enjoy the game as much as I did.
